1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to security monitoring systems and, more particularly, to a security monitoring system having a computer vision system for recognizing individuals entering and leaving a structure to resolve entry/exit conflicts.
2. Prior Art
Security monitoring systems of the prior art, particularly residential security systems, utilize a box that monitors contact sensors for doors and windows and one or more infra-red sensors for area monitoring. When a contact is triggered or an infra-red sensor triggers, an alarm is sounded and a signal is sent via a data link such as a phone line to a central monitoring site. The central monitoring site typically initiates a set of phone calls, to the homeowner, to work, and/or to a designated neighbor to determine if the alarm signal was due to an unauthorized intruder or just to an accidental triggering by a family member or other authorized occupant of the structure.
If the alarm signal cannot be resolved by the phone calls, it is passed to the local police department. 95% of the calls passed to the police department turn out to be xe2x80x9cfalse alarmsxe2x80x9d in the sense that they were not due to an unauthorized intruder.
Significant portions of xe2x80x9cfalse alarmsxe2x80x9d are caused by what is referred to as entry/exit conflicts. For instance, in the situation of a residential alarm system, the homeowner or other authorized occupant of a residence often arms the security system while leaving the residence and shortly thereafter realizes that they have forgotten something in the residence. As they return to the residence, they enter without disarming the system thereby causing an alarm to be sounded and/or an alarm signal to be sent to a central monitoring site. Similarly, the homeowner may arm the security system and remain inside the residence, such as during the night and may thereafter leave to get something outside the residence, i.e., the morning paper, thereby triggering a false alarm.
In view of the prior art, there is a need for a security monitoring system, which resolves these and other types of entry/exit conflicts.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a security monitoring system, which resolves the entry/exit conflicts of the prior art security monitoring systems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a security monitoring system that monitors the entrance and exit of individuals to a structure, records key image data, and matches an exiting individual against an entering individual.
Accordingly, a security monitoring system is provided. The security monitoring system comprises; an exit and entrance camera located at the exit and entrance, respectively of a structure; a detector for detecting the exit or entry of an individual into or from the structure; an image recording system for storing images from the exit and entrance cameras; and a computer vision system for analyzing the stored images transmitted from the image recording system using a predetermined criteria to determine if the exiting and entering individuals are the same. Preferably, the exit and entrance cameras are either video cameras or the images are video images or digital cameras and the images are still images.
The security monitoring system preferably further comprises means for transmitting an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images to a remote site if the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be the same. Alternatively, the security monitoring system can transmit an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images if the exiting and entering individual is the same.
In a preferred implementation of the security monitoring system of the present invention, the predetermined criteria used to determine if the exiting and entering individuals are the same comprises matching descriptive features of the entering and exiting individual such as a color, shape, or texture distribution of the stored images.
In yet a more preferred implementation of the security monitoring system of the present invention, the security monitoring system further comprises: a database for storing image data for each authorized individual of the structure; and a recognition system for comparing the stored images from the entry and entrance camera with the stored image data in the database and for determining if the exiting and entering individual is one of the authorized individuals. Preferably, the stored image data in the database are face images and the recognition system is a face recognition system. In the more preferred implementation, the security monitoring system further comprises means for transmitting an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images to a remote site if the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be the same and the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be one of the authorized individuals.
Also provided is a method for performing security monitoring of a structure. The method comprising the steps of; capturing images at both an exit and entrance of the structure; before or after the capturing step, detecting the exit or entry of an individual into or from the structure; storing the images from the exit and entrance camera; and analyzing the stored images using a predetermined criteria to determine if the exiting and entering individuals are the same.
Preferably, the method further comprises the step of transmitting an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images to a remote site if the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be the same. Alternatively, the security monitoring system can transmit an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images if the exiting and entering individual is the same.
In a preferred implementation of the methods of the present invention, the method further comprises the steps of: storing image data for each authorized individual of the structure; and comparing the stored images from the entry and entrance with the stored image data for determining if the exiting and entering individual is one of the authorized individuals. The preferred implementation of the methods of the present invention further comprises the step of transmitting an alarm signal and/or at least a portion of the stored images to a remote site if the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be the same and the exiting and entering individual is determined not to be one of the authorized individuals.